A forum that has long served as hostile territory for Israel will now consider a request that seeks to hold the Palestinian Authority to account. A nonprofit group, the International Legal Forum, has asked the International Criminal Court to open an “urgent investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity” on the part of Hamas and the PA.  

The request, obtained by The New York Sun, alleges “rampant, wide-spread and systematic torture of Palestinian nationals” as well as “the torture of Israeli citizens, currently held in captivity in Gaza.” It names President Abbas and Prime Minister Shtayyeh as responsible for “wide-spread violence and torture against Palestinian nationals in the West Bank.”

While the United States and Israel have refrained from signing the Rome Statute that would bind it to the ICC’s jurisdiction, the Palestinains inked on the dotted line in 2015 in order to press their case of what they call “alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”

It is that membership that has given ILF the opening to lodge this case. The request details a panoply of alleged rights violations, including “violent beatings, arbitrary detention, solitary confinement, cruel and inhumane prison conditions, intimidatory tactics, harassment, forced confessions, denial of basic civil rights, and summary executions.”

Hamas is hardly left off the hook, as the ICC is asked to turn its attention to the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, which are being held in Gaza in violation of the Geneva conventions. In addition, Hamas is castigated for holding hostage two mentally ill Israeli citizens, who mistakenly crossed into the Islamist terrorist group’s terrain. 

The request fingers “Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammad Shtayyeh, in their respective capacities as President and Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority,” as bearing “direct criminal responsibility” for a regime of torture. 

The chief executive officer of ILF, Arsen Ostrovsky, tells the Sun that he hopes his organization’s request will be seen in the context of President Biden’s recent visit to the Middle East, and the promise of increased funding to the PA.  

Mr. Ostrovsly poses the question of whether those monies, which were cut off during the Trump administration, are going toward “underwriting torture practices carried out by the Palestinian Authority.”